Tanya Morgan - So Damn Down

Von Pea, Ilyad and Donwill of Tanya Morgan know that, in order to pay the bills, they’re going to have to play the game, but that doesn’t mean they’re always happy about it—as shown on XV‘s Something Better, they are keenly aware that that success always has a price. The newly-released So Damn Down finds the group once again juxtaposing a pretty facade with the sometimes-ugly truth—though they’re undeniably down as in “with it,” the endless grind can, at times, get them down in the “blue” sense. Since the group’s forthcoming third LP (set to drop May 14th) centers on a fictional city called Brooklynati, the architectural sweep of Von Pea’s lushly-sampled beat couldn’t be more appropriate, and when the instrumentation drops away to showcase the song’s synthesized bass line, it’s a little like suddenly seeing through to the girdwork skeleton that lies below the surface of a majestic skyline. For more on Tanya Morgan’s fictional city, check out the newly-launched Brooklynati Chamber of Commerce website.